Alonzo durkee



UNITED ST TES PATENT OFFICE.

ALONZO DURKEE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AssIeNoR TO THE NATIONAL AUTOMATICPIANO AND ORGAN MANUFACTURING COMPANY, or

SAME PLACE.

MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 282,179, dated July 31,1883.

Application filed March uses. (No model.)

T0 aZZ whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, ALoNzo DURKEE, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a newand useful Improvement in Mechanical Musical Instruments, of which thefollowing. is a specification. V

This invention relates to instruments which are manually operated uponor are mechanically played or controlled by means of one or more stripsor sheets of paper or other suitable material perforated to representthe different notes or sounds it is desired to produce, and caused toautomatically pass over airducts, and thereby control the action of thevalves which determine the admission of air to the reeds or pipes of theinstrument, whereby said reeds or pipes are made to produce musicalsounds. In certain musical instruments of this character the perforatedsheets or strips are made to control the action of the valves or keys bymeans of a series of jacks, levers, or key-moving fingers arranged onone side of said strip or sheet to operate through the perforations ofsuch strip or sheet upon a series of pushpins or key-moving rodsarranged on the opposite side of said strip or sheet. In other devicesof this character the jacks, levers, or

key-moving fingers have been pivoted at their rear ends in a frame abovethe sounding board, the front ends of said jacks or levers beingprovided with downwardly-projecting noses designed to rest upon themusic-sheet, so that, as the perforated sheet moves along, the noses ofsaid jacks fall through the perforations and upon the tops of thepush-pins and cause the latter to open the valves, admitting air to thesounding devices. In my present construction such pivoted jacks orlevers are dispensed with, and the valve-motor rods or push-pins areoperated by a series of unpivoted gravity valve-motors consisting offiat oblong pieces of metal, the lower ends whereof are beveled andpointed in such a manner as to easily pass through the perforations inthe musiestrip in operating the valvemotor rods. These gravityvalve-motors are arranged vertically side by side in a valvemotor boxmounted upon the instrument, and

areheld in proper position by grooves cut in the front and back walls ofsaid box, in which they easily rise and fall independent of each other.By such a construction and arrangement the operating mechanism issimplified and made more accurate in its operation.

In the drawings, Figure l is a vertical crosssectional view of a portionof amechanical musical instrument with my improved device in positiontherein and Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of theimproved gravitymotor box, with the motors and valve-rods, at line a" m,Fig. 1.

Like lettters of reference, wherever they occur, indicate correspondingparts in both figures.

A is the gravity valve-motor box, mounted upon the sounding-board of theinstrument.

Bare vertical parallel grooves formed in the front and back walls of boxA. Within said grooves B are located the gravity valvemotors C,constructed of metal and of sufficient'weight to operate by theirgravity the valve-motor rods D.

The motion of the perforated music-strip E is from left to right, andwhen, as it is moved, one of the perforations therein passes beneath amotor, 0, the latter will drop therein upon the head of a correspondingmotor-rod, D, thereby causing the latter to operate its special valve,and will be raised from the rod D to rest in its normal position on themoving sheet E by the edge of the perforation pressing against thebeveled edge f of said motor s nose, and thus remove the pressure fromthe valve-rod D. The limit to which said gravity valvemotor may fall isregulated by the top 0, the metal striking the bottom of the groove inwhich the side of the motor plays. The motorvalve rods D are coupled attheir lower extremities to back falls, F, pivoted to the balancerail G,the opposite ends of each back fall bearing a regulating-screw, H, towhich are attached button-valves I, above and .opposite openings 9 h,respectively, in an air-tube, J. The ordinary exhaust-chamber isrepresented at K, and L represents a pneumatic lever. M is an air-pump,and N exhaust-bellows. All operating parts are of the usualconstruction, and consequently require no further description.

I attach importance to the valve-motor box A, having its vertical guidesor grooves B and stops 0 in their relations to the gravity-motor groovesB and stops a, gravity valve-motors C, valve-motor rods 1), andperforated musicstrip E, the whole combined and arranged to operate,substantially as shown and described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname in presence of two witnesses, ruary, 1883.

ALONZO DURKEE.

\Vitnesses:

JACOB J. STORER, ALBERT P. IVIORIARTY.

this 12th day of Feb 20

